Pitt
10-5, 1-3
Boston College
9-7, 0-4
Funk, Fogel, Zuckerman All Collect Three Hits as Pitt Handles Boston College in Series Opener
3/15/2024 7:30:00 PM | Baseball
PITTSBURGH – Pitt took game one from Boston College, 12-5, on Friday night behind a dominant offensive performance. The Panthers tied their season-high in hits against Boston College, combining for 18 this afternoon. C.J. Funk, Justin Fogel and Ryan Zuckerman each had three-hit games, it was Zuckerman's first three-hit game of his career.
Dom Popa went 2-4 with an RBI and extended his hitting streak to a career-high fourteen games. Luke Cantwell and Turner Grau each went 2-5 with a double, Grau also drove in three runs on the day. Jayden Melendez launched his fourth home run of the year in the bottom of the sixth inning, he went 1-4 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Ryan Partridge was phenomenal in relief in the series opener. He threw 3.1 innings of one-hit, shutout, baseball, earning his first win of the season and first as a Panther. Phil Fox entered in the eighth inning and blanked the Eagles in the final two frames.
The Panthers pounced on Boston College's John West in the bottom of the second inning, scoring four runs on four hits to take the first lead of the game. Justin Fogel led off the inning with a walk, he advanced to second on Ryan Zuckerman's single through the right side with two outs. Anthony LaSala bounced an infield single to first and Pitt had the bases loaded for the top of the order. The Panthers stole two runs in the span of two pitches when Dom Popa was hit by a 1-2 pitch and West bounced his first pitch to C.J. Funk a foot in front of the plate. In the same at-bat, Funk bounced a two-run single up the middle and Pitt led 4-0 after two.
Boston college would get four back over the next two innings, scoring on a solo home run in the third and a two-out, three-run, double to tie it up in the top of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Fogel led off with another walk and would score on a Turner Grau double to right-center. Ryan Zuckerman singled through the left side in the next at-bat and scored Grau from second. Zuckerman was thrown out trying to advance to second and Pitt led 6-4 after five.
Pitt added two more again in the bottom of the sixth, this time on a two-run home run by Jayden Melendez, his fourth of the year.
The Panther offense was not done, adding four more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. C.J. Funk led off the inning with a double off the left field wall for his third hit of the game. Luke Cantwell and Jayden Melendez each walks and loaded the bases with nobody out. Justin Fogel knocked an RBI single to right, also collecting his third hit of the game, and plated Funk. A balk would bring home Cantwell from third and move Melendez and Fogel into scoring position. Turner Grau squeaked a two-run single off the second baseman's glove and Pitt led 12-5 heading into the ninth.
Phil Fox sat the Eagles down in order and the Panthers won the series opener 12-5.
Right-hander Jack Sokol will start for Pitt tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3 PM
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Partridge, Ryan (1-0)
L: Michael Farinelli (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Nick Wang 1
HR: Nick Wang 1
RBI: Nick Wang 4 ; Sam McNulty 1
SH: Sam McNulty 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cam Caraher 1 ; Nick Wang 1 ; Parker Landwehr 1 ; Patrick Roche 1 ; Sam McNulty 1
HBP: Parker Landwehr 1 ; Patrick Roche 1
Batting:
2B: Funk, C.J. 1 ; Cantwell, Luke 1 ; Grau, Turner 1
HR: Melendez, Jayden 1
RBI: Popa, Dom 1 ; Funk, C.J. 2 ; Melendez, Jayden 2 ; Fogel, Justin 1 ; Grau, Turner 3 ; Zuckerman, Ryan 1
SH: LaSala, Anthony 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Popa, Dom 1 ; Funk, C.J. 1 ; Cantwell, Luke 2 ; Melendez, Jayden 2 ; Fogel, Justin 3 ; Grau, Turner 1 ; Zuckerman, Ryan 1 ; LaSala, Anthony 1
CS: Popa, Dom 1
HBP: Popa, Dom 1 ; LaSala, Anthony 1
